President
Delores W. Cook called the meeting of the West Virginia Board of Education
(WVBE) to order at 9:00 a.m. on April 10, 2008, in the Media Center at Scott
High School, #1 Skyhawk Place, Madison, West Virginia, and welcomed and
introduced the Honorable Joe Manchin III, Governor of West Virginia.

II. Open Discussion with Governor regarding Education in
General

Governor
Manchin conversed with the Board regarding the importance of education in
growing the economy and workforce development.

III.Break

President
Cook called for a break at 10:10 a.m.

IV.Call
to Order

President
Cook called the meeting back to order at 10:20 a.m.

V. Call
to Order (Continued)

The
following members were present: President Cook, Vice President Priscilla M. Haden, Secretary Ronald B. Spencer, Robert W. Dunlevy, Barbara N. Fish, Lowell E.
Johnson, Gayle C. Manchin, and Jenny N. Phillips, and ex officios Steven L. Paine, State Superintendent of Schools, and Brian E. Noland, Chancellor, West Virginia
Higher Education Policy Commission. Members absent were Burma Hatfield
and ex officio James L. Skidmore, Chancellor, West Virginia Council for
Community and Technical College Education. Also absent was student
representative Stephen Stolzenberg.

VI. Welcome

Mr. Steve Pauley, Superintendent of Boone County
Schools, welcomed the Board and introduced staff and honored guests. Mr.
Pauley announced that the meeting would be broadcast via the World Wide Web and
available in the archives at www.shermanhigh.com.

VII. Personal Finance Education Program for 21st
Century Skills

President Cook introduced and welcomed State Treasurer
John D. Perdue. Treasurer Perdue introduced his staff in attendance at
the meeting and addressed the Board regarding a personal finance education
program for 21st century skills. The objective of this program
is to bring together the expertise of professional educators and
personal-finance education advocates to advance the implementation of personal
finance education in schools and to produce desired improvements in the
personal financial literacy level of West Virginia high school graduates.

VIII. Approval
of Agenda

Upon motion by Mr. Spencer, seconded by Mr. Dunlevy,
the Board unanimously approved the agenda

Mrs. Fish requested that Consent Agenda item 5.
Policy 2515, Uniform Grading, be removed from the Consent Agenda for
further discussion. Upon motion by
Dr. Johnson, seconded by Ms. Phillips, the Board unanimously approved the
Consent Agenda as amended. (Copies appended to Official Minutes,
Attachments B through F and H through M.)

·Meeting minutes of March 11 and
12, 2008 (Attachment B)

·Budget supplement and transfer
requests for the month of March 2008 as follows: total supplements
= $44,640,806 and total transfers = $18,255,792 (Attachment C)

·Amendment to the Clay County
Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan to
include approval of the Clay County
School Access Safety Plan (Attachment D)

·Amendment to the Hampshire County
Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan to
include approval of a new facility for the automotive department and the
addition of a veterinarian technician building at Hampshire High School (Attachment
E)

·Amendment to the Mineral
County Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan to include approval of the
reconfiguration of the Mineral County school system so that schools will have a
consistent grade configuration. This change reflects the Board's desire
to more consistently define the programmatic structure of schools and
curriculum implementation and a desire to have smaller schools.
This change will provide smaller schools for all areas of the county for grades
Pre-K through 4 (Attachment F)

·Policy 4110, Attendance
(Attachment H)

·Employment of
Substitute Teachers in Areas of Critical Need policies for Cabell and Mercer County
Schools (Attachment I)

·Eighteen county applications
representing summer school at 44 county locations (Attachment J)

·Attendance waiver request for the
Center for Professional Development's Principals Academy for Rocky Hall, Roane
County High School

·Changes in the Jackson County
Superintendent Evaluation Process (Attachment K)

·West Virginia Schools for the Deaf
and the Blind School Calendar for 2008‑2009 (Attachment L)

·The accreditation status as listed
in the individual school report for Dunbar
Intermediate School, Andrew Jackson Middle School, DuPont Middle School, East
Bank Middle School, Elkview Middle School, Capital High School, and Herbert
Hoover High School and continued the Full Approval status of the Kanawha County
School System (Attachment M).

XI.Policy
2515, Uniform Grading

Dr.
Jorea Marple, Assistant State Superintendent, Division of Curriculum and
Instructional Services, addressed the Board regarding the proposed changes to
Policy 2515. Upon motion by Dr. Johnson, seconded by Mrs. Manchin, the
Board, with six members voting yes, and two members voting no, approved Policy
2515 to be effective July 1, 2008. (Copy appended to Official Minutes,
Attachment G.)

State
Superintendent’s Report. Superintendent
Paine presented Department personnel
actions for the Board’s information. Dr. Jack McClanahan, Deputy
State Superintendent of Schools, assisted by Mr. Terry Harless, Executive
Director, WVDE Office of Internal Operations, provided an update regarding the funding
formula, budget and several bills that were passed during the recent
legislation session. Superintendent Paine, assisted by Ms. Brenda Williams
(distributed information), Executive Director, WVDE Office of Instructional
Technology, provided a brief overview of the Technology Counts 2008 STEM (Push
to Improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
report. Superintendent Paine also discussed a number of meeting and
events that have occurred or are planned, brought to the Board’s
attention Mrs. Manchin’s receipt of a “Top 25 Doers, Dreamers, and
Drivers” award from the Government Technology magazine, asked the
Board’s thoughts regarding the development of a plan for teacher
compensation, announced that West Virginia has been selected as a NAEP pilot
site and also may participate as a test site for the PESA test, and answered
questions with regard to Lincoln, McDowell and Mingo Counties. (Copy
appended to Official Minutes, Attachment Mc and addendum.)

President
Cook thanked the Boone County School District for making the meeting such a
wonderful success. President Cook requested that members wishing items to
be considered for placement on a future agenda to be provided to her,
Superintendent Paine or Dr. McClanahan as soon as possible. Mrs. Fish
requested an update be provided to members as soon as possible regarding the
tours being conducted to recruit teachers to teach Chinese. (Copy
appended to Official Minutes, Attachment O.)

XV. Future
Meetings

The
next regular meeting of the Board will be held May 14-15, 2008 in Doddridge
County, West Virginia. The Board, by consensus, set the time of the
Thursday meeting to begin at 10:00 a.m.

XVI. Adjournment

Upon
motion by Dr. Johnson, seconded by Ms. Haden and unanimously carried, the Board
adjourned at 12:45 p.m.